About 4 or 5 years ago, my neighbor’s adult children (and by extension my neighbor) got really big into the raw milk craze. For awhile, he’d mention all the benefits compared to store bought milk that’s homogenized & pasteurized and supposedly it’s those processes that make it unhealthy.
I don’t remember exactly when they stopped talking about raw milk, but at some point that topic stopped coming up anymore. Then one day, my neighbor told me he was going over to his daughter’s to drop off a gallon of (store bought) milk, and I replied with something like “I thought she only drank raw milk”.
That’s when he told me that the family stopped drinking raw milk a while ago after everybody got sick from a bad batch.
Anyway, I have had raw milk as a child one time when a local farmer dropped some off for us to try. I don’t recall it very well since I was pretty young but I vaguely remember not liking it because it tasted too much like the way cows smell and it was thicker (more viscous) than I was expecting so there was a bit of “gross factor”. I’m sure it wouldn’t be gross if I had grown up drinking it, though.
“bad batch” likely the milk was sitting at ambient temperature for more several hours or more before being served, which allows bacteria to grow, thats in addition to the bacteria already in the milk.
Almost anything can be consumed “raw” if the entire handling chain is working 100%. The reality is - even without capitalism - germs can spread pretty easily, people can make mistakes, and contamination is inevitable. Once you add capitalist incentives to cut corners, go faster, and produce more… it’s a disaster waiting to happen. The more popular raw milk gets, the more dangerous it will be.
The absolute safest way to drink raw milk is to pick it up directly from a farmer that you know, and that has a very low volume farm, and is very educated on the best handling and bottling processes. Again… the types of farmers that will be selling such a risky product aren’t the ones you want to be buying from.
Raw milk is lower risk if it is one or two cows, and only one distributor - like “I know a cow”. That said, yer still gonna get sick from it eventually. cow poop and milk sources are simply too close together.
About 4 or 5 years ago, my neighbor’s adult children (and by extension my neighbor) got really big into the raw milk craze. For awhile, he’d mention all the benefits compared to store bought milk that’s homogenized & pasteurized and supposedly it’s those processes that make it unhealthy.
I don’t remember exactly when they stopped talking about raw milk, but at some point that topic stopped coming up anymore. Then one day, my neighbor told me he was going over to his daughter’s to drop off a gallon of (store bought) milk, and I replied with something like “I thought she only drank raw milk”.
That’s when he told me that the family stopped drinking raw milk a while ago after everybody got sick from a bad batch.
Anyway, I have had raw milk as a child one time when a local farmer dropped some off for us to try. I don’t recall it very well since I was pretty young but I vaguely remember not liking it because it tasted too much like the way cows smell and it was thicker (more viscous) than I was expecting so there was a bit of “gross factor”. I’m sure it wouldn’t be gross if I had grown up drinking it, though.
“bad batch” likely the milk was sitting at ambient temperature for more several hours or more before being served, which allows bacteria to grow, thats in addition to the bacteria already in the milk.
Almost anything can be consumed “raw” if the entire handling chain is working 100%. The reality is - even without capitalism - germs can spread pretty easily, people can make mistakes, and contamination is inevitable. Once you add capitalist incentives to cut corners, go faster, and produce more… it’s a disaster waiting to happen. The more popular raw milk gets, the more dangerous it will be.
The absolute safest way to drink raw milk is to pick it up directly from a farmer that you know, and that has a very low volume farm, and is very educated on the best handling and bottling processes. Again… the types of farmers that will be selling such a risky product aren’t the ones you want to be buying from.
The real safest is right from a clean test of a healthy cow. But personally I don’t like warm milk.
Raw milk is lower risk if it is one or two cows, and only one distributor - like “I know a cow”. That said, yer still gonna get sick from it eventually. cow poop and milk sources are simply too close together.
Not just cows.
Tell the cows I said hi.